We Only Really Learn When Things Start Breaking

For the majority of us, today is the same as yesterday. We look in the mirror, we have glimpses of hope, however the reality is, today will remain the same as yesterday, and the day before.

Most of us stay in jobs we may not love, wondering when it will change. Most of us go home and watch TV, complaining about the day at work. Most students, business grads and MBAs walk out into the world full of enthusiasm and confidence. However, there is a major problem with enthusiasm and confidence. It’s actually not very useful. Nothing changes, at least, not as a result of your actions. Why? For change to happen, we need to be brave. We need to make a sacrifice.

Bravery is simply the willingness to lose at something or to fail.

We do not talk about bravery in school. We talk about what is at stake and how to protect it. How to get a job, how to adopt the status quo. We then focus on moving up the ladder, playing it safe and then getting a better job. We ignore the discussion of taking a leap when there are no guarantees and we never talk about the value of failure or of smart risk.

Can you remember the last time you took a chance on something that didn’t match your own interpretation of safety and security. Remember the last time you went the ‘wrong’ way to work? Acted the ‘wrong’ way during a business meeting? Started a new project, created a blog. Perhaps that is too risky, something un-expected may happen? Better not.

So we play it safe, we live today, like we did yesterday.

What if today was the day that you decided to create something unexpected, start something, share an idea that you have kept to yourself for too long. What if today we decided to innovate our life? How would you design it? What would emerge, what would change and most importantly, where could that take you tomorrow?

“For every negative, there’s a positive. It’s in everything. How you deal with life, outlook, how much energy you put into achieving something. That’s why I detest entitlement. Anything that’s worthwhile is going to call for some sacrifice. Nothing worthwhile will come to you without a price. People think in sports, you have different rules. You really don’t. It’s whatever motivates you.”

Open your mind to failure. Considering you will fail when you take on the challenge of bringing something new into the world, we may as well get used to it and most importantly, learn from it. Diego Rodriguez talk about Failure sucks, but instructs. Might be worth repeating when you look in the mirror tomorrow morning.

The reality is, “you only learn when things start breaking“

Diego Rodriguez has created a list of twenty innovation principles. If you feel stuck, then start here. You will find your path… or it will find you. You just need to be in the right frame of mind to take it.